Night Game Drive
I never thought that I would go on a night drive. I mean, what can you really see at night?
It turns out, a night drive is one of the best things that I have done.
I visited St Lucia in April and we were looking for something different to do. My sister suggested a night drive and before you know it, we booked our tickets.
That night, we were collected in a open game viewer at 19h00 from our lodge. We were equipped with warm blankets in case we were getting cold. We entered the gate on the Eastern Shores of iSimangaliso Wetland Park. Our friendly and highly knowledgeable tour guide gave us a well-informed briefing of iSimangaliso Wetland Park, the cultures of KwaZulu-Natal and taught us a few Zulu words. After some chuckles, we were on our way.
We saw sooo many animals. Our tour guide showed us various chameleons and taught us how to spot them in the wild. We saw many Hippos grazing the grasslands, Hyena, Genet, Greater Galago (Nagapie), Zebra, Kudu and Southern Reedbuck.
The drive through the Park was exhilarating. We went on loops (off-road paths) through thicker vegetation in search of the leopard, which unfortunately we did not see, but it did not matter as the adventure of the trip was very exciting.
We stopped somewhere for coffee and rusks under the stars. It was amazing as the night sounds were spectacular. Crickets, beetles, night jars, hippos, frogs and thunder in the distance. This is something every person must hear at least once in their life.
After coffee, we made our way back to the lodge. Back in St Lucia we drove around for a few minutes in search of hippos as they roam the streets of this little town at night. Our tour guide then took us back to our lodge. The game drive took about three hours.
I will go on a night game drive every time I get a chance from now on. There is nothing like it and that trip will stay one of my number one experiences.
